Combined refrigerator and fruit car



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

H. 0. G'OODELL. OOMBINED REFRIGERATOR AND FRUIT GAR. No. 483,552.Patentefl Oct. 4, 1892.

WITNESSES. a; g lNVEN 0H ATTORNEY.

m: nonms nuns cm, Moro-undo, msuma'ron, n. c.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

- H. 0. GOODELL.

UOMBINED REFRIGERATOR AND FRUIT GAR.

Patented Oct. 4 1892.

INVENTOH WITNESSES ATTORNEY.

THE News werzns cm. Puwmrmm. WASHINGTON. m c

UNITED STATES HENRY CARR GOODELL,

.OF ATCHISON, KANSAS.

COMBINED REFRIGERATOR AND FRUIT GAR.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 483,552, dated October4, 1892.

Application filed February 1, 1887. Serial No. 226,171- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Beitknown thatLHENRY CARRGOODELL,Of Atchison, in the county of Atchisonand State of Kansas, have invented a new and useful Improvement in aCombined Refrigerator and Fruit Oar; andI hereby declare the followingto be a full and clear description thereof.

This invention relates to an improvement in refrigerator-cars asheretofore patented and used by me, (reference is here made to mypatent, No. 300,596,) and it consists in placing in saidrefrigerator-cars a diaphragmpartition near the end thereof, so as toform an air-chamber thereby, into which outside atmospheric air isadmitted through properlyarranged ventilators and from which it is sentinto the storage-room of the car in the manner hereinafter described,and also in such details of construction as are required to make this athoroughly complete and practical improvement, as will hereinafter morefully appear.

The invention will be readily understood by reference to theaccompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 is a transverse sectionalelevation of my improved car, taken on the line a as of Fig. 2, lookingtoward the end of the car. Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal sectionalelevation of the end portion of the car, showing the air-chamber and thediaphragm-partition which separates it from the storage-room. Fig. 3 isa sectional plan of the top portion of the end part of a car, taken onthe line y through the air-chamber, at end of car and through theice-boxes that are located in that part of the structure. Figs. 4 and 5are respectively a transverse and a longitudinal sectional elevation indetail of a part of the floor formingthe bottoms of the iceboxes and thetop of the storage-room.

The general construction of the storage or transportation room of thecar is quite similar to structures heretofore patented and used by mefor refrigerator-cars, &c. It has an outer wall A, with inner Walls aanda, which together form insulating-chambers A and A around the sides ofthe incloscd storage compartment. Theouterinsulating-chamber A, I leaveopen to form an air-insulator to the compartments within, and the innerchamber A I fill with some suitable insulating material, like charcoal,lamp-black, mineral wool,

or other good non-heat-conducting material.

As in my former structures of a similar character, I place at or nearthe top of the refrigerating-compartment two ice-boxes B and B, with acentral air-duct 0 between them, and similar air-ducts O and G at thesides of the said ice-boxes and between them and the outer side walls Aa a, as shown clearly in Fig. 3. The ribs 1) form the rack at thebottoms of the ice-boxes on which the ice is laid.

At or near the corners of the ice-boxes or in other convenient locationsare placed properly-trapped drainage-pipes W,through which the meltagefrom the ice in the boxes B and B, respectively, escapes.

As in the cars and similar structures formerly invented and used by me,the iceboxes B and B are placed at or near the top of the car orcompartment, as above described, and the storage-room is placed belowthem, and the whole structure arranged so that the warm air of thestorage-room will rise up through the central air aperture or duct 0,and thence pass over and through the iceboxes, where it will becomecooled, and then again descend to the storageroom below through the sideapertures or ducts C and 0 In this invention the ice-boxes and storageroom are not continued to the end of the car, but are cut ofi a shortdistance therefrom, as inFigs. 2 and 3, bya diaphragm-partition D, so asto form between the said partition and the contiguous end of the car anair-chamber E. The said diaphragm-partition is provided with a pair ofbevel-edged folding doors D D arranged to close air-tight into abeveledged frame II in the said partition by means of suitablepacking-strips d, of some soft material like leather, felt, canvas, orsuch other like article, and they are also provided with suitablecatches d to hold them in their closed position. The wall or partition Dis of a similar insulated construction to that already described for theouter wall of the car.

The floor forming the bottom of the icecompartments B and B isconstructed as shown in detail in Figs. at and 5. First, a tightboarding f is laid 011 top of the transverse beams F, and this boardingis then covered with a water-tight covering f of tarred paper, felt, orother similar material, and on top of this I lay transverse strips fover the beams F, as shown in Fig. 5, and on top of these strips I layanother tight boarding f All these are securely fastened to the beams fby nailing or other equivalent fastening means, and then I roof thisboarding over the ice-boxes and sustain the ice resting there- W J in;The bearing strips fainterpose d between the boar-dings f and f formair-spaces be- .tween the said boardings, and thereby form aninsulating-space between the ice-boxes and the storage-room below them.The structure thus constructed is provided with air inlets or valves Gand G, of any well-known or suitable construction, placed "in the endwall of the car and adapted to admit an adjustable quantity of outsideatmospheric air into the air chamber or compartment E, from whichthe'air so received may be admitted to the storage-room through thedoors D D and an inlet-duct G The said inlet-duct G is placed in theupper end of the diaphragmpartition and in such a location as to deliverthe air to the storage-room through the central duct 0. The air-inletdoors G and G are placed, respectively, near the bottom and near the topof the end of the car, so as to regulate at will the upward or downwardflow of the air, as required. Each of the said inlet doors or gates'G Gare provided with suitable g at ings to exclude dust or anything elsenot desired within the structure, and also with suitable levers orlatches g for operating them and fastening them in any desired position,either open or shut.

The inlet-duct G is constructed with beveled jamb-pieces G which formthe framework of said duct, and are adapted to receive the bevel-edgeddoor G which is hinged at g to the jamb-piece G The door G is pro-,vided with packing-strips g of rubber, leather, felt, canvas, or anyother suitable material, so that when shut it will be air-tight, and theincoming current of air will be prevented from passing into and throughthe duct G and through the central duct 0.

In the transportation of beef and other.

meats for long distances refrigeration is of the first importance, Whilein the transportation of fruit the greatest amount of ventilation isrequired, with only sufficient refrigeration to preserve an eventemperature as nearas pos facility is afforded for adaptingit to thetransportation of meats, fruits, and all other provisions or substancesof a perishable nature by providing for adjusting the apparatus so as tosecure the exact proportion of refrigeration or ventilation, or both,which may be required by the character of the articles to betransported. Thus, for example, when the apparatus is to be used only asa refrigeratorcar the air-inlet valves G and G and the doors D D G maybe tightly closed. When the car is to be used for transporting fruit,where perfect ventilation is of the first import-ance, all or anydesired number of the inlet and outlet valves and doors may be opened,so that a free and unobstructed current of air may be allowed to passthrough the storage compartment, and saidvalves and doors may besoregulated as to provide for passing either the whole or a portion ofsaid current through the top or the bottom of the car, as may bedesired. The gases and evaporation arising from the fruits naturallyascend to the top of the car, and by the opening of the upper inlet andoutlet valves and ducts provision is made for carrying off said gaseswithout passing the current directly through the fruit itself.

It is obvious and ithas been provenby practice that the perfect systemof ventilation and circulation of air provided for in this inventioncould not be accomplished inany other manner than that above describedor in some similar manner, such as is described in my application,Serial No. 226,172, filed on the same date herewith, for if the inletand outlet apertures were arranged in the sides of the car the onlycirculation possible would necessarily be such as 'would'result from theoperation of the vacuum caused by the passage of the car, and wouldconsequently be imperfect, while by having said apertures in the ends ofthe car all the current and circulation of air, whether great or small,are necessarily always in line with the line of travel of the car, andperfect ventilation is thereby'secured.

It has been proven by practice that this car provides for the successfultransportation of deciduous fruits for long distances during the heatedsummer months, by reason of its thoroughly-ventilated ends andthoroughly-insulated diaphragm-partitions and side walls, whereby allthe air required to pass through the fruit can be obtained by theventilation, while the insulation prevents the suns rays frompenetrating the walls to change the temperature within. It is equallyobvious that in the long-distance transportation of citrus fruits shoulda cold temperature be encountered and theventilaters require to beclosed the insulated walls will protect the fruits from being chilled orfrozen.

I am aware that numerous patents have been granted for ventilatingrefrigerator-cars, examples of which are found in the patents of Pottsand Lamason, dated June 28, 1870, No.

104,765; 13. N. Bugbey, dated January 9, 1883, No. 270,383; I.C.Nissen,dated June 26, 1883, No. 280,224, and others; but such is notthe object of my invention.

My invention is a combined refrigerator and ventilated fruit car-that isto say, it is a refrigerator-car and a ventilated fruit-car combined inone structure. The car can be used at one time as a refrigerator, inwhich case it is tightly closed, and at another time as a ventilatedfruit-car, in which case the ventilators are open and refrigeration isnot necessary.

I do not claim in this application a ventilated refrigerator-car;neither do I claim a car which can be used as a refrigerator only, nor acar which can be used as a fruit-car only.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a refrigerating and ventilating car, an ice-chamber in the upperpart of the car, an independent storage-chamber beneath the same,ventilating gated openings in each end of the car in line with eachother and with the ice-chamber, and ventilating gated openings at eachend of the car in line with the storage-chamber and with each other, andmeans for independently controlling said openings, substantially asdescribed.

2. In a refrigerating and ventilating car, an ice-chamber extendingalong the upper part of the car, an independent storage-chamber beneaththe same, partition-walls intermediate of the end walls, forming the endwalls of the ice.and storage chambers, independently-controlled gatedopenings in said partitions at each end in line with each other, onepair being in line with the ice-chamber and the other pair with thestorage-chamber, and a gated opening in each end wall of the car,substantially as described.

3. In a refrigerating and ventilating car,

an ice-chamber extending along the upper part of the car, an independentstorage-chamber beneath the same, partition-walls lntermediate of theend walls, forming the end walls'of the ice and storage chambers, lndependently-controlled gated openings 1n said partitions at each end inline with each other, one pair being in line with the ice-chamber andthe other pair with the storage-chamber, and corresponding andindependently-coir trolled gated openings in each end wall of the car atthe upper and lower part thereof, sub stantially as described.

4. In a refrigerating and ventilating car, an ice-chamber in the top ofthe car,compr1sing two ice-boxes with a space between them centrally,partition-walls forming the ends of the ice-chamber, a gated opening ineach partition-wall in line with said central passage between theice-boxes, an independent storage-chamber beneath the ice-chamber, thepartition-walls also forming the end walls of said chamber, gatedopenings in said walls in line with the storage-chamber and w th eachother, and gated openings in the end walls of the car, substantially asdescribed.

5. In a refrigerating and ventilating car, an ice-chamber in the upperpart of the car, a storage-chamber beneath the same, part1- tion-wallsintermediate of the end walls of the car, forming the end walls of theice and storage chambers, ventilating gated openings in saidpartition-walls in line with each other and with the storage-chamber,and ventilating gated openings in each end of the car, substantially asdescribed.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twowitnesses.

HENRY CARR GOODELL.

\Vitnesses:

E. L. RICHARDS, WM. E. RICHARDS.

